Ignite the Sun

"Is that the goal she set for you?" Sylara asked.

"Yeah, clear six temples and then find her at the pale lake with or something like that." Calen nodded.

"Well, you're in luck then – I believe you're strong enough to take on another temple, maybe even two."

"...as ready as I was for the previous one? I'm afraid we barely won there and two of us got seriously injured."

"It's not that much of a problem now that Ellie can heal people, no?"

"How did you know?" Elira questioned.

"I'm connected to the Nature domain dear, I know everything that happens with it."

"...are you mad I copied your technique in secret?"

"Mad? I'm more impressed that you managed to copy it by just looking at it, I ought to reward you for your achievements if anything."

"Going back to the temples..." Isara interjected. "Where are the two you were talking about?"

"In the territory of the Sage's Summit I'm afraid – you will need to cross the entire kingdom to reach them. I've already contacted the Enlightened that you might be coming so they will be expecting you."

"Could you tell us more about them? We know basically nothing outside of the fact that they have a bad relationship with Greenheart."

"The Enlightened are what remains of the rising sun monastery." Sylara explained. "They adjusted the old ways of their forefathers to survive in this harsh world, forsaking pacifism in favour of non-interference and neutrality."

"Meaning they stopped giving a shit about violence and decided to start using it, but only when they want." Damien added. "Not that I can exactly fault them for that, they did what they had to to survive."

"And how exactly do they survive?" Calen frowned. "From what I remember the monastery was only tangentially related to the Sun God and didn't actually have any divine blessings."

"That's correct, but they did manage to harness divine power on their own."

"How?"

"The Grandmaster of the monastery can craft sigils – a rare skill even before the invasion – normally they only run on magic or aura, but the Grandmaster did something unprecedented, he made them work by absorbing ambient divine power."

Ambient divine power was a strange phenomenon – the domains were technically everpresent, even if reaching them from certain places could be difficult. Their presence allows a constant supply of miniscule amount of divine power.

That power is not aligned with any single domain, and can't be used by a druid or a sun priest – but it can be used as a power source for a specific sunset of magic items... and apparently sigils.

"I don't understand how something like that is possible." Isara commented. "Divine power can be used in some magic circles and items because it relies on the magic related parts to guide that power. The sigils are too simplified to have that element, so they can't make magic and divine power interact."

"Sigils work can work on aura though." Calen pointed out.

"That doesn't matter, magic and aura have a similar nature and they are speculated to be different expressions of the same power, there are even records about people who could wield both using aura to activate magic circles." She argued. "Divine power is completely different in nature since it's supposed to have an inherent purpose."

"Ambient divine power doesn't have a purpose anymore."

"Yes, and that should make it less usable, not more."

Damien who has been listening to the exchange turned to Sylara.

"What do you think? You're certainly the most experienced with handling divine power out of all of us."

The Guardian drummed her fingers against the table as she thought.

"I cannot speak for the sigils the Enlightened created because I've never visited their monastery since protecting this city binds me to it, but I've known Grandmaster Asur since he was born and can assure you that he wouldn't lie about his creations."

"...is it another another settlement full of people who are centuries old?" Calen questioned.

Sylara shook her head

"Quite the opposite, Asur is the only person with an extended lifespan – everyone else lives for a long, but decidedly human amount of time. Many generations passed since the original inhabitants of the monastery left."

"That sounds like a nightmare for the Grandmaster to be completely honest – knowing that sooner or later, you will see everyone around you die."

When those words left Calen's mouth he suddenly remembered what Tharion told him – was being a Guardian also like that?

His thoughts were interrupted by Sylara's response.

"That would be the case if Asur was a human – but he's not."

"He isn't?"

"He's one of the last natural born spirits in the world."

That statement was quite a bombshell – not only did Sylara just reveal that there were still regular spirits in the world, but that there were a few of them as well.

In hindsight it did make sense that the Grandmaster was a spirit – he had an extended lifespan despite not cultivating aura or practicing magic and alchemy was completely out of question due to his monastic life.

"What type of spirit is he?"

"An elemental, he could've become a source lord long ago but he never had a thirst for power."

"And his element?"

"It's Harmony." She chuckled at the perplexed looks she got from the group. "Most of the currently existing spirits are not connected to any of the six major domains, instead using very strange and esoteric powers. There are five others, I believe their elements include chaos, earth and even fate."

"Doesn't fate sort of border on the Star domain?"

"It does and it's a rather complicated matter – the 'aspects' of domains are actually smaller domains absorbed by the bigger one. If someone showed up looking to claim the place of a god for a minor domain a conflict would inevitably ensue."

"Does it mean Asur could have problems with you if he wanted to become a god? One of your aspects is balance after all."

"Harmony and Balance aren't the same – but that's a discussion for another day."